


Once Upon a December

by JadelynTate



Series: Darcy Eppes-Granger [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Numb3rs, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Clint Barton & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Darcy Lewis is the fandom bicycle and I love it, Darcy Lewis-centric, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Post-Thor (2011), Real Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 10:12:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13761924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadelynTate/pseuds/JadelynTate
Summary: Darcy and Jane attend a science conference in Texas.





	Once Upon a December

Darcy sighed as she got off the phone with Amita. She and Charlie had just been invited last minute to present at a science conference next week, the very same one she’d remembered Darcy telling her Jane was going to. Her sister-in-law had called to find out if Darcy could go with, if only so Charlie could see her. 

Looked like she couldn’t keep putting it off. She had to tell Jane who she was. 

At least she wouldn’t have to do it with Erik too, she thought morosely to herself. Clint and Erik had left for some new assignment, Erik being pretty cagey about what he was going to be working on for SHIELD. Clint had bitched about being reassigned, as he’d seemed to decide it was up to him to keep an eye on his buddies wife. In the end, Coulson had told him to suck it up and get going and he’d grudgingly done so. 

Darcy still wasn’t sure what to make of Clint’s replacement. The other agents were clearly intimidated by the redhead but so far she’d been nothing but courteous to Darcy and Jane. Still, Darcy couldn’t help but feel the redhead was a lot more interested in Darcy than she was in actually protecting Jane. 

“Hey Boss Lady, can we talk?” she asked, slipping her phone in her back pocket. “Upstairs?” 

Coulson had promised the roof was protected, even going so far as to install a white noise generator for them if they wanted to talk privately without fear of being overheard. The offer, though appreciated, had only come after Jane blew a gasket when she found out the lab had been bugged by SHIELD. 

The generator was up on the roof. Clint had assured her it would work as long as they remained within five feet of the thing.

“Can it wait?” Jane asked, not looking up from her notes. 

“No, it really can’t.” The tone Darcy used must have registered because the doc finally looked at her. She blinked a moment before nodded and getting up. The two were quiet, only murmuring back and forth as they went up the ladder and then fiddled with the generator. 

“Alright, what’s wrong?” Jane demanded once Darcy pulled a couple of wine-coolers out of the mini-fridge they kept hidden up there for late nights. 

“I want to preface what I’m about to say by telling you this was not done out of malice but because I wanted to be treated as my own person and not as an extension of someone else,” Darcy said immediately, having practiced what she’d say. She thought it was important, especially given how Jane viewed Charlie and Amita. 

“Okay, based on that, I’m assuming this has nothing to do with you breaking something again,” Jane said, looking a little relieved. Darcy gave her a dirty look and Jane shrugged. “The last time you wanted to talk up here, it was to make sure I didn’t kill you for breaking my computer. You wanted there to be witnesses, even if they couldn’t hear what you said.”

Darcy had to give her that, though most of it had been in jest. Mostly. 

“Okay, no, um…you know Charlie Eppes?” 

Jane’s brow furrowed. “I know of him, though we’ve never met. I heard he may be presenting at the conference with his wife though and if so, I was hoping to—” 

“He’s my brother,” she blurted out before Jane could get much farther than that. 

Jane blinked at her owlishly a few times before a puzzled look came to his face. “Your…brother?” 

“Yeah, I changed my last name when I turned eighteen so I couldn’t be connected to him or our older brother Don,” she said in a rush. “I just…I wanted to make my own way and no matter what I did, I knew I’d get connected to one of them, most likely Charlie, if I went by my birth name.” 

“Which would be…?” 

“Eleanor Darcy Eppes,” she recited. “Though I’ve actually been Darcy since I was about four and decided Eleanor and all the nicknames that went with it were too princess-y. Lewis was my dad’s mom’s maiden name. He wasn’t happy I was changing my name so the Lewis was to try and placate him. It didn’t really work but we’ve mostly gotten over it.” 

Jane studied her for a few minutes. “My father offered to let me change my name to my mother’s when I went to college, to try and fit in better,” she finally said. “Mostly it was cause he was a professor there but I understand wanting to just be you and not your family.” 

Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Though I am curious why you specified your other brother, Don,” Jane added, looking puzzled. 

“Don was kinda a big name in college baseball,” she shrugged. “And then he joined the FBI and, well…” she trailed off. 

Jane nodded. “That makes more sense,” she said. “Especially since I’ve seen you run.” 

Darcy shoved her but Jane just laughed. Shaking her head and absurdly grateful for Jane’s easy acceptance, she leaned forward to hug the physicist. 

“Does this mean I get to actually meet your brother?” Jane said suddenly, her face buried in Darcy’s hair. “And his wife?” She sounded excited, as if she’d suddenly realized she had an in with her math idol.

“At the conference, actually, Amita called to let me know and to ask if I could somehow come with so they can say hello,” she agreed, pulling back. “Just, do me a favor, keep the drooling to a minimum, okay? This is my big brother and sister and, just, ew.” 

Jane rolled her eyes. 

“Oh, one more thing, something you also need to know cause Charlie and Amita will probably assume I told you and mention him and yeah,” she said and then braced herself again. “I’m married.” 

For the second time in about fifteen minutes, Jane gave her best impression of an owl. “I beg your pardon?” 

“He works with Don at the FBI, he’s former army, and when I got the full ride to Culver, it was decided he would remain where he was and we’d try the long distance thing for a semester and if it didn’t work, I’d transfer to CalSci or UCLA or someplace in LA,” she said in a rush. “He’s actually part of the reason I decided to take a science internship for credit instead of actually taking a science class. We thought I’d be able to find someone in California, maybe Larry. When that didn’t work out, Larry was the one to recommend you. ” 

She hadn’t actually intended to tell Jane that last bit but now that it was out, she didn’t have much choice. Word vomit, how she loathed thee. 

“Why didn’t it work out in California?” Jane asked, not taking offense as Darcy had half feared she would. 

“None of the one’s who’d take me could get the grant funding for an intern,” she shrugged. “Otto-bahn came pretty close, but he needed the grant money for a project so I told him not to worry about it.”

“It must have been hard, doing school on the other side of the country from your entire family,” Jane said, frowning. 

“It was,” she agreed quietly before her lips quirked. “But, you know, Charlie came and guest lectured like twice a year once I started so I got to see him and Amita then. And I racked up a lot of flyer miles traveling back and forth for any vacation I could swing. I don’t think I spent any breaks that were longer than two days actually at Culver. And the only major holiday I didn’t spend in California was last Christmas.”

“What’s your husbands name?” she asked, grabbing a wine cooler and settling into one of the lawn chairs. 

“Colby Granger,” Darcy said and pulled out her phone to show her his contact photo. Jane giggled, making grabby hands. 

“Show me more,” she demanded and Darcy obligingly pulled up her photos and all the pics she’d taken last time she’d been home. The first one that came up had Jane’s eyes practically popping out of her head. 

“Is he carrying a surfboard?” she asked, voice dazed, and Darcy burst out laughing. “What?!” 

“You literally have a star-crossed romance,” she reminded her, expression amused. “Should you really be looking at my hunk of man flesh?” 

“I can look as long as I don’t touch!” she said indignantly. “And hey, I do not have a star-crossed romance!” Darcy gave her a dubious look. “I don’t!” 

“Ya huh,” Darcy said, placating the woman. 

“It was one kiss!” Jane insisted. “This does not make it a star-crossed romance!” 

Darcy decided distraction was the better part of valor here and swiped till she found the perfect photo. “Hey, look, it’s me and my brothers!” 

As expected, Jane looked down at the photo of the three siblings at the beach. Don had Charlie in a headlock but was tipping backwards because Colby had taken the photo at the exact moment Darcy had jumped on her oldest brother’s back to drag him into the surf. The entire thing had been the precursor to Charlie, Amita, Darcy, Larry, and the kids teaming up against Don, Colby, Liz, and Ian. Nikki, Robin, and Dad had flatly refused to actually go in the water and instead had spent the entire time yelling at both teams and taking pictures. 

They spent the rest of the night discussing her family and going through all her photos as they drank. She put names to faces, proudly showing off the photo of Darcy with her three nieces and three nephews, all of whom had the black and curly Eppes hair. Despite having married second, Don and Robin had given her a nephew first, having had James. Charlie and Amita of course had then blown that out of the water by having twin girls, Dorothy and Katherine, both named for famous mathematicians. Don and Robin had followed again with their second child and only girl, Margaret, more commonly referred to as Maggie. 

Amita had had complications in the twins pregnancy, which resulted in her doctors advising against getting pregnant again. Despite that, she’d ended up with Alexander, her and Charlie’s only boy. Unfortunately, the end result of that pregnancy had been the doctor having to perform a hysterectomy. Alex was only a day older than the youngest of the kids, that being Daniel, Don and Robin’s second boy. Robin had ended up going into labor with Daniel when it became clear Amita’s second labor was going to be worse than the first. Daniel, in addition to being the youngest, was also the smallest as he’d been a preemie and that had affected his growth. 

Jane laughed herself sick when Darcy informed her that despite already having six grandkids to spoil, her father continued to pester Darcy and Colby about reproducing themselves. 

“It’s not that I don’t want kids, I do, just not right now when my life is so insane,” Darcy told her. “Colby’s pretty settled but I’m still in school and don’t have a full time paying job. Give me five or ten years in the same place and then we’ll revisit it.” 

“What does Colby think of all that?” Jane asked, frowning. 

“‘Thank God,’” she quoted him and Jane snickered. “I’m not even joking, when we talked about it those were his exact words when I told him my thoughts.” 

“So no kiddos for another ten years or so?” 

“Nope, just lots and lots of god-I-missed-you sex,” she quipped and the two women fell against each other in giggles. 

~~*~~

“I’m not sure which one of you is more excited about this meeting,” Agent Romanoff said, amused, as they waited in the lobby of the hotel where the conference was a week later. “But no matter how fast you bounce, they’re not going to get here quicker.” 

Darcy ignored the redhead, still moving in place next to Jane as they watched all the nerds come in. Oh, there were normal people too, people on vacations and such like that, but the scientists and doctors and, well, nerds, were easy to spot if you knew what to look for. Charlie and Amita had called from the airport almost an hour ago telling her they’d arrived safe and sound and were getting their luggage. They’d been down here ten minutes now, waiting. 

“Lewis,” Romanoff said suddenly, voice quiet. “Does your brother have security by any chance?” 

Darcy looked at her, confused, before following where the redhead was staring. 

“COLBY!” she squealed, running towards the brickhouse that was carrying a duffel in one hand and a folder of papers in the other as Charlie and Amita argued just behind him. 

“That’s her hubby,” she faintly heard Jane inform the agent as she slammed into her husband. 

He dropped the duffel, thrust the folder at Amita, and then wrapped her in a hug. Within seconds his mouth found hers, the two losing themselves for a moment before someone smacked Colby upside the back of his head. They broke apart.

“That’s enough, let me see my sister,” Don said and she squealed, jumping on him. “Oof!” Don grunted, instinctively catching her around the legs as she hugged him. “Damnit, Darcy, you’re too old to do be doing this anymore!” 

“You mean you’re too old for her to be doing that,” Robin said dryly next them as Darcy slid off him and turned to hug the woman. “You look good, Darce.” 

“What are you guys doing here?!” she exclaimed even as she grabbed Charlie in a bear hug. Her brother grunted as well before hugging her back. She could feel him kiss the top of her head before letting her go to greet Amita. “And where are the kids?” 

“Ian, Larry, and Megan offered to help Dad watch the kids for the weekend so we could all come,” Charlie told her. “The paper they want me to present is about my work with the FBI so Don’s going to help with the presentation, explain the agency’s side of things.” 

“Yay!” Darcy squealed before noticing Romanoff and Jane were hanging back, clearly unsure how to react. She pushed out of the ring of family and dragged both ladies forward. 

“Oh, my gosh, okay, so…everyone, this is Dr. Jane Foster, my boss-lady, and our SHIELD agent security, Agent Natasha Romanoff,” she said, waving a hand at both women when she said their names. “Ladies, these are my brothers, Charlie and Don, their wives, Amita and Robin, and my husband, Colby.” 

Jane looked utterly overwhelmed as she said hello. Romanoff was…smirking?

“Agent Eppes,” she greeted her brother. “Nice to see you again.” 

“Agent Romanoff,” Don greeted back, looking a little put out. “I wasn’t aware you were, uh, with Dr. Foster.” 

“Dr. Foster recently came to work with SHIELD on a project we’re interested in,” the redhead replied calmly. “Given the attack in New Mexico, she and her team were all given security. Two agents are keeping an eye on the lab while myself and another agent came here with Dr. Foster and Miss Lewis.” 

“Another agent?” Darcy said, looking confused, as Jane started looking mutinous. “Who, I haven’t seen them?” 

“That would be the point,” a familiar voice said and she turned to find Barton leisurely walking up to them. “Hey Lewis, Granger, Eppes, Eppes.” 

Don and Charlie both looked at Romanoff, then to Barton, and then, finally at each other before Don pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Okay, exactly how much trouble did Darcy find herself in?” he asked, both he and Charlie looking worried. Next to her, Colby snorted a laugh as Darcy squawked in outrage at the insinuation. 

“Don’t worry, Eppes, Coulson made it clear if something happens to Lewis, our pensions are gonna disappear,” Barton told her brother before greeting Colby with a bear hug and a slap on the back. “You look good, Granger, seems the FBI agrees with you.” 

“SHIELD would agree with him better,” Romanoff said. Don glared at her. 

“What have I told you people about trying to steal my agents?!” he demanded. The redhead just smirked back and Darcy suddenly understood exactly what everyone meant when they said Don and Coulson’s team tended to clash.

“Wait a minute,” Jane said, bringing everyone’s attention over to her. She looked part perplexed and part outraged. “What do you mean ‘if something happens to Darcy’?! What happened to protecting me?!” 

“You’re important too, Doc,” Barton assured her with a grin. “I was personally threatened with Siberia if something happens to you.” 

“The Amazon,” Romanoff added. At the looks she was getting, she shrugged. “I’m from Russia, Siberia’s not a threat for me. And I hate insects.” 

“As amusing as this all is, we need to check in,” Amita broke in before things could escalate further. Jane only looked partially mollified so this was probably a very good idea. 

“I know you were planning to stay with Foster but I should have a private room with a king size bed,” Colby said in her ear, having come up behind her while Amita and Robin ushered their husbands towards the check in counter. She smiled slightly, especially since he wasn’t quiet enough for Jane not to hear. 

“Of course she’s going with you,” the physicist insisted, looking surprised at the very idea she wouldn’t. Then her expression turned thoughtful and not a little mischievous. “Actually, that’ll be nice, having my own space.” 

“Our rooms are on either side of Doc’s so as long as you can keep her safe, SHIELD’s got no problem with that,” Clint agreed with a smirk. “Though I have to ask, should I turn off my hearing aid tonight if you’re nearby?” 

“Probably,” she smirked right back before dragging her bright red and sputtering husband towards her brothers. Behind her, Jane, Barton, and Romanoff all laughed. 

“Evil temptress,” Colby murmured in her ear just before they got behind Don in line. Louder he asked, “Do you think they can get all three of our rooms close to Foster’s?” 

“Charlie’s already talked to them about it and they agreed once he explained our groups are all here together,” Don agreed, turning to smile at her. He tugged her out of Colby’s arms and into his own, resting his chin on the top of her head like he’d been doing since she could remember. Out of the corner of her eye, she could just make out Robin and Colby smiling indulgently at them as he continued. “All three of us are going to be across the hall, apparently.”

“We’re taking over the end of the hall then,” she told him, voice muffled by his jacket. “Romanoff’s room is by the fire exit, then Jane’s, then Barton’s I’m guessing since he just told his Jane’s between them.” 

By the time they were all check in and had their keycards, they found the hotel had been true to their word. Don and Robin were across from Clint, Charlie and Amita next to them, and Colby and Darcy at the end, across from Romanoff. When they got upstairs, Darcy quickly disappeared inside Jane’s room to grab her luggage, thankful she hadn’t unpacked already. Jane gave her a knowing look as she waved goodbye and headed across the hall to where Colby had left the door cracked open as he put his stuff away in the dresser. 

She closed the door once inside and propped her suitcase up against the desk before pretty much tackling Colby onto the bed. His hands went to her waist, frowning a bit. 

“What?” she asked, hands on either side of his head, her hair falling around them like a curtain. 

“You lost weight,” he said. 

“Yeah, well, Jane and I don’t have my dad or you to cook high calorie meals for us everyday,” she reminded him and he tilted his head in understanding. “And since I’ve been banned from cooking since I was thirteen…we’ve made do.” 

He nodded, not mentioning it further. Instead, his grip on her hips tightened and he leaned up to kiss her, both pairs of eyes fluttering closed as they lost themselves for a few minutes in the feel of the other. Colby finally leaned back, one hand going up to push her hair behind her ears. “What’s on the schedule for tonight?” he asked. 

“Optional mixer at ten,” she answered, having memorized the general schedule and Jane’s in particular. “Jane wants to go, so I’ll go with her. Charlie will probably go too, unless he and Amita take advantage of not having the kids here.” 

“That’s it?” he asked, surprised, and she nodded.

“Thursday’s aren’t that busy,” she shrugged. “But Don will probably insist we all do dinner together tonight,” she reminded him.

He glanced at his watch before flickering his gaze past her to where she suspected a clock was hanging on the wall. “Robin will want to get settled for at least an hour before we all head out,” he said with a sly grin. “Which gives us about half an hour before we have to start getting presentable.” 

A knock sounded on the door then, breaking their conversation and the intriguing direction it had been going. 

“Stop making out with my sister and open the door!” Charlie called and Darcy groaned, burying her face in Colby’s chest. He chuckled but obligingly sat up so that Darcy was sitting on her knees across his lap. She smiled hopefully as his breath caught at the placement before he forcefully shook it off. 

“We’ll have all weekend,” he assured her, kissing her forehead, before standing and forcing her to slide to her feet. She pouted but otherwise didn’t argue as he strode to the door and opened it to let Charlie in. 

“Robin said to tell you we’re going to dinner at a place she knows nearby in two hours,” Charlie told them, cheeks a bit pink as Darcy glared at him. “She also said to tell you it’s non-negotiable and she will call security to open to the door and get us if any of us, uh, lose track of time. Also, Dr. Foster and the two SHIELD agents are invited too.”

“Bet Don loved that,” she drawled, some of the annoyance bleeding away at the olive branch being offered to the SHIELD agents she’d grown rather fond of. It wasn’t much of one, and it would have been better if it actually came from, you know, her brothers, but it was a start. 

“I don’t think she gave him a choice in the matter,” Charlie agreed with a chuckle. “When I left their room, he was sulking in front of the TV.” 

Darcy and Colby both snickered. 

Charlie quickly excused himself then, obviously uncomfortable being around the two of them when they hadn’t seen each other in person in months. Smirking as she closed and locked the door behind him, she turned to find Colby giving her a knowing look. 

“Two hours, huh?” he asked, voice already raspy. 

“Yup,” she agreed, sliding forward and into his arms. “Remind me to thank Robin later for the extra time.” 

~~*~~

They weren’t late, though it was a near thing. When Robin came and knocked on their door, Darcy had just finished twisting her hair up in a clip, mopst of it still dripping wet from the shower she’d foolishly thought she could handle with her husband. 

After however many years, you’d think she’d learn not to shower together when on a time-table.

The restaurant wasn’t bad—it was one of those steakhouses that seemed to have a little bit of everything. Her brothers, Colby, and Clint all ordered the biggest steaks they had, while Darcy did her level best to convince Jane to eat something other than chicken tenders from the appetizer menu. Darcy herself got cajun pasta with shrimp, as there was no place in their little dinky town to get something even remotely similar to it. 

Dinner itself went really well, the two FBI agents managing a calm discussion with the two SHIELD agents on the various cases they could actually talk about. It was clear they were trying to one-up each other but since they spent most of the time laughing, Darcy wasn’t too worried and left them to it. Though she did tune in at one point when Colby decided to tell about a case where Don had to go undercover at a gay bar as a favor to Ian. Robin and Darcy, who hadn’t heard the story before, laughed for five minutes straight when Colby related how Don ended up pretending to be in a relationship with Ian just to avoid the wandering hands of a couple of the patrons. Clint had clearly taken pity on the man by cheerfully recounting his time in the same type of club, only he’d been convinced to go in drag. That (and Romanoff’s dry comment that it was criminal that he looked better in mascara than she did) manage to thaw the ice from Don. 

When not laughing at Don and Clint, Robin and Darcy discussed some of the recreational activities the conference had put together for those interested while Charlie and Jane talked about their respective research the entire time. Poor Amita kept getting pulled into both discussions, wanting to help plan extra stuff and also being intrigued by the math. 

The only hiccup came when Don asked about the explosions and what had caused them, since the news had been surprisingly mum about it. Clint and Romanoff weren’t allowed to say anything as SHIELD agents and Don wasn’t thrilled when Darcy admitted she and Jane had both signed NDA’s about the entire thing. Robin was clearly not happy about it either but Darcy figured that was less about the fact she’d signed it and more about the fact she, as the family lawyer, hadn’t seen the NDA before Darcy had jotted down her name. 

After dinner, Jane had decided to go straight back to the hotel, with Clint and Romanoff going with her. After some significant looks between them, Colby, Amita, and Robin had decided the same, leaving the three Eppes siblings to walk down the river walk on their own. 

“Subtle,” Darcy snorted as she watched their three significant others disappear down the street towards the hotel. 

“If we wanted subtle, those were the wrong people to marry,” Don said, grabbing Darcy and maneuvering her between him and Charlie on a outdoor table near the river. 

“Dad wishes he could have come but he has a big presentation Monday,” Charlie said, apologizing. “Also, I think he was kinda excited to have the kids all to himself for two days.” 

“I wish him luck,” Don snorted. “He told me he’s taking them to a Dodgers game and Ian, Larry, and Megan aren't going.” 

Darcy could well imagine how that was going to go. She loved her father dearly but he often seemed to forget he wasn’t as young as he used to be, especially when it came to the grandkids. 

“He told Amita that Roger offered to help that day though,” Charlie piped in. He paused. “You know, they’re spending a lot of time together lately when Dad has the kids.” 

“Roger doesn’t have any children, let alone grandkids,” Darcy reminded them. “The closest he can claim is Colby and that’s more of a would-adopt-you-if-I-could-because-you’re-awesome, type deal.” 

“And since you two aren’t planning on kids for a while, he’s making do with mine and Don’s?” Charlie asked skeptically. 

“More or less,” Darcy said. “Kinda like a great uncle.” 

“They do call him Uncle Bloom,” Don mused and Darcy gave him a surprised look, not having known that. He shrugged. “It started right after a barbecue he came to a year or so ago. I think James did it first and when Robin and I didn’t say anything all the rest of the kids followed suit.” 

“Including mine,” Charlie drawled. He paused and then snickered. “I still remember Bloom’s face the first time he heard it.” 

Don chuckled. “I’m not sure who was more surprised, him or Dad,” he agreed. “Then Christmas, remember?” 

“‘Uncle Bloom’ bought them all Playstations,” Charlie grumbled. Darcy did a double take and he quickly amended his statement, “He bought two playstations, not six. One for each house.” 

“But he did make sure each kid got their own game,” Don added. “I seriously thought Dad was going to have a stroke.” 

“That shit is expensive!” Darcy said, still kinda stunned. 

“Why do you think Robin and I hadn’t gotten them one yet?” Don asked rhetorically. 

“I missed a lot last Christmas,” Darcy said quietly. It had been the first time she hadn’t gone home for the holiday, instead heading straight to New Mexico for the internship once her finals were over. She and Colby had spent the actual holiday skiing at a resort several hours from Puento Antiguo in Colorado. It had been only one night and Colby had brought all the gifts from her family and then taken theirs from her home with him. While it had been nice to have that time alone with him, she had really missed her family. She hoped it didn’t happen again and now that Jane knew, she figured it probably wouldn’t. 

“Well, now that your boss knows the score, I’m expecting a lot more face to face calls,” Don said sternly. His expression was soft though, in direct contrast with his tone. “We miss you, Edi.” 

She smiled slightly as Charlie didn’t say anything but reached over to squeeze her wrist. She grinned at them both and then had an idea. Seeing a passing couple, she shot up out of her seat and waved them down.She spoke to them quietly a moment and then handed the woman her phone, the camera ready to go. When she turned back to her brothers, she found Don already holding out his to the man and Charlie digging for his in his pocket. The couple were good-natured about it, taking photos of the three siblings mugging for the camera on each phone. 

“Thank you,” she said to the couple and they left, continuing their walk. Darcy grinned at the photo and sat down, making it her lock screen. A quick peek at her brothers found them doing the same. She made a mental note to change the home screen background to something with Colby now that she wasn’t keeping quiet about him. 

Catching a glimpse of Don’s own home screen, a picture of Robin and the kids, she made grabby hands at him and Charlie. “Give me my nephews and nieces,” she ordered. “I want to see all the pictures!” 

The rest of the evening passed in much the same way. After going through a truly amazing amount of photos of the six kids and their extended family, Darcy talked to them about some of the things that had been happening in her life lately, leaving out only thier recent godly visitors.

Don told them both about some of the crap Robin had been dealing with at the office, since she had a new judge to deal with and it was very clear he wasn’t a big fan of women prosecutors. Then, to lighten and mood and calm Darcy down, he’d told her about how Ian had finally settled down in the LA field office when it became clear the broken leg he’d suffered from a case a few years back had severely affected his ability to track for long periods of time. His first case had been a doozy and Darcy and Charlie spent several minutes laughing as Don quoted certain parts of the final field report. 

Charlie related how his research was going, admitting it was even slower than before as he now had a family to raise and support.

“What about you, when does your internship end?” Charlie asked once he’d finished explaining the change in department heads and how that had affected him recently. He admitted he missed Millie, which he never thought would happen. 

“December,” she answered, fiddling with her purse. 

“What is it?” Don asked, eyes narrowed. She paused. 

“You can’t tell Colby,” she finally said and her brothers didn’t even look at each other before nodding. “I’m thinking of staying with Jane for a bit longer if we can swing it.” 

“This have to do with the incident you can’t talk about?” Don asked, always the investigator. 

She nodded solemnly. “Also, Jane…she needs someone there who gets her, who understands she can’t stop sometimes, that she has to do the math even if that means she’s going 48 hours without sleep,” she said. “I get that and while a good portion of the math is over my head, I recognize enough that I can be useful in that regard too.” 

“I get it,” Charlie said then, sounding amused. “You want to be her Larry.” 

“Minus certain parts, yeah,” she agreed with a chuckle. She hesitated. “Is that so bad?”

“No.” Surprisingly, it was Don who answered. “And explain it that way to Colby, he’ll get it. I’ll probably lose him from the office, but he’ll get it.” 

Darcy shook her head. “I don’t want him to leave LA, he loves it there and he mentioned he might be in line to get his own team soon,” she said and Don gave a single nod. “I just…its been hard, living apart. But...I kinda feel like I _have_ to do this. I don't know, I just have much greater appreciation for what Mom and Dad went through when I was a kid.” 

“Yeah,” Charlie nodded, looking abashed. “We weren’t easy on them back then, were we? Weren’t easy on you.”

“The price of growing up,” Don said quietly. “You realize just how much your parents did for you as kids.” 

“What do you say we go back to the our rooms and boot up Skype?” Darcy suggested suddenly. “Call Dad and get him on the line?” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Don grinned and the three siblings stood up and headed back to the hotel.

**Author's Note:**

> The picture Jane drools over is this one: 
> 
> http://jadelyntate.tumblr.com/post/171150597083/mmmmmmmm


End file.
